Wednesday, November 15, 2006

SNAKES IN A DUPLEX!

Conservation officers who entered the home of a man who sought treatment for a poisonous snake bite found 15 venomous vipers, including cobras and rattlesnakes, inside.

Michael Fillenwarth, 47, was taken into custody but later released after Monday night's raid on his home due to medical issues related to his snake bite, officials said.

Authorities learned of the snakes after Fillenwarth sought treatment over the weekend for a bite from the highly venomous green mamba, native to Africa.

Sgt. Dean Shadley, an Indiana Conservation Officer, said Fillenwarth did not have the proper permits to keep the snakes, which Shadley described as "extremely poisonous." He is charged with possession of a dangerous reptile without a permit. ...

Officers confiscated five types of rattlesnakes, three types of cobras, along with gaboon vipers, copperheads, a puff adder, and two green mambas from Fillenwarth's duplex on Indianapolis' east side. They also seized caged quail Fillenwarth was using as food for the reptiles.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Do you remember when the Cobras were loose in Springfield in the 1950's (I believe). They escaped from a pet store on perhaps Olive Street and had the whole town on edge, along with making National news.

Actually it was from a pet store at St. Louis and National .. what is now Dr. Ted Hammacker's vet clinic.

We had just moved to SGF and my dad's Postal Inspector partner lived at 309 S. National --- now the fine resturant ... our mothers would not let us go outside that summer and play at that house ... and our dad got out pistols and garden hoes and inspected the basement every day.

Incidentally, the mother's name of the family was Mary Elisabeth Cox who had one of the first live cooking shows in the nation (the College of Cooking) on KTTS (now KOLR) TV whose studio was at the corner of Jefferson and Walnut. Her son and I were on the show many times and must have been the first boys of the fifties ever to do some of that "home ec" stuff.